Sealed packages are necessary to contain, protect, and couple to optical fibers and electrically connect optoelectronic components. Optoelectronics packaging is one of the most difficult and costly operations in optoelectronics manufacturing. Optoelectronic packages provide submicron alignment between optical elements, high-speed electrical connections, excellent heat dissipation, and high reliability. Providing such features has resulted in optoelectronic packages that are larger, costlier, and more difficult to manufacture than electronic packages. In addition, current designs of optoelectronic packages and associated fabrication processes are ill adapted for automation because today's high-performance butterfly packages are characterized by a large multiplicity of mechanical parts (submount, substrate coils, brackets, ferrules, etc.), three-dimensional (3D) alignment requirements, and poor mechanical accessibility.
Optoelectronic packages exist for optical components such that the components are easily aligned within a package. Such a package may be manufactured inexpensively and in an automatable method. Such an optoelectronic assembly generally includes a substrate with a positioning floor, which provides a mounting surface for a number of optical elements, or components. For example, an edge emitting optoelectronic element such as a laser diode may be mounted on the mounting surface of a substrate. Other optical components may also be used.
The use of coils in the electronic devices, such as packages, is well-known in the art. A coil may serve to isolate a DC circuit from a high-speed circuit in a package. Generally, each end of the coil is wire bonded to a component on each end of the coil. That component may be a high speed line on one end. A resistor may be wire bonded to another end of the coil. Generally, this coil must be mechanically assembled or made before being attached in the package. A pick and place method may be used to attach the coil in a particular location in the package. Due to the bulky size of the coil, it is difficult to place the coil for coupling. There may also be problems with mechanical accessibility and alignment.